QUEBEC HISTORY - 1900 - 2005
Quebec Culture

11/17/2009

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Indians and Metis are naturists, the French and English are Royalists.

"When France was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up, 
and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris.  I was there, I saw it ".  
Gordon Sinclair.

 

 

1900 

Reginald Fessenden of Sherbrooke, Quebec invented the radio, making the first broadcast on December 23, 1900.

Montreal, Quebec is home to 60% of Canada's wealth, but its slums have the highest infant mortality rate in North America.

1902 

Newfoundland (1902-1905) had free-trade with the United States of America.

1903 

March 1:  Quebec Nationalists unite in La Ligue Nationaliste, to separate Quebec as an independent French Canada.

1906 

January 31:   Miss Mabel French of New Brunswick, who previously could not practice as an attorney on grounds she was not a person, is arrested for drunkenness in St. John.  Based on the Supreme Court ruling that women are not persons, they therefore have full permission to bawl, yell, scream, shout or sing on the King's highways.  She won her case.

1907 

The Quebec bridge collapses killing 30 Mohawk ironworkers.

1910 

The French motto of "One God, One Religion, One King' is replaced by the English motto 'One Flag, One Fleet, One Throne'.  It is noteworthy that Quebec was flatly against a Canadian navy.

 

1912 

The Province of Quebec commences a campaign to wipe out all Indian names from the Quebec maps but fails to eliminate the words Quebec and Canada from the vocabulary.

The Boundaries Extension Act transferred the Inuit Territory of Nunavik to Quebec on the condition that indigenous rights to the territories are settled.  Nunavik is nearly a third of the landmass of Quebec.  Ontario and Manitoba also had their borders transferred northward.

October 12:   French speaking students at Garneau, Ontario walked out of their classrooms in protest of their English speaking teacher.

1914 

March 30:  Capt. Abram Kean (1855-1945) married 1872 Caroline Yetman is held partially responsible for the death of 78 sealers.  Many Newfoundlander held him personally responsible but he was never punished.  He son Wesbury Kean in command of the S.S. Newfoundland was stuck in the ice and sent his men to his fathers ship the Stephano where he said his father would direct them to the seals and put them up for the night.  Abraham Kean was a stubborn man and pointed out the seals but refused to put them up for the night.  They were caught in a storm and 78 perished and 11 were crippled.   It is noteworthy the ship Southern Cross was lost in the same storm and seal hunt losing another 175 men. 

May 29:  The Empress of Ireland carrying a crew and passenger count of 1,477 sank in the St. Lawrence River. killing 1,012 people.  It was the most disastrous marine disaster in Canadian history.  The Empress sighted a ship in the fog and stopped its engines as a precaution.  The Norwegian Coller Storstad came out of the fog striking the Empress in the side causing the Empress to sink in 14 minutes.  The Empress of Ireland and transported over 100,000 immigrants to Canada during her lifetime.

1915 

The use of French is restricted in Ontario.

1917 

A monthly magazine, L' Action Francaise, is established (1917-1928) by a group of radical Roman Catholic priests and Quebec Nationalists to protect the French language, promote political independence and promote greater respect for the rights of French Canadian minorities within the Canadian federation.

December 6:  Halifax, a French freighter and a Belgian ship colided in Halifax Harbour, causing a blast that killed thousands and destroyed much of the city.  Vince Coleman, a telegraph operator stayed at his post warning inbound trains to stay out of the city.  He saved hundreds of lives, although he sacrificed his own.

December 6:  The Mont Blanc, a French munitions ship carrying over 1,816 tonnes of picric acid, benzol, gun cotton, and TNT, collided with the Belgian ship Imo in the Halifax Harbour.  The ensuing explosion killed 1,800 people and seriously injured 4,000 more.  Much of the city was destroyed leaving 6,000 homeless and causing $50 million dollars damage.  This is considered the worst disaster in Canada.  Others suggest the death toll was 2,000 and 9,000 injured.  Two square km of northern Halifax was destroyed.  Windows were broken 80 km away.
 

 

1918 

Anti-conscription riots began in Quebec City over the Easter weekend.  The troops were called in, and four civilians are killed in the ensuing shootout.

1927 

A typhoid epidemic hits Montreal.

March 1:  In a long standing dispute between Newfoundland and Quebec, the Imperial Privy Council decided in favor of Newfoundland, which received the present territory of Labrador.

August 24:  A gale off Sable Island, Nova Scotia drowns 100 fishermen.

1928 

November 18:  At 5:02 P.M. a 7.2 magnitude earthquake occurred 265 km south of Burin Peninsula, Newfoundland.  I occured at a depth of 2,00 meters causing an underwater land slide and was felt at Montreal and New York.  The trans-Atlantic telegraph cables were cut in 29 places.  The resulting tsunami recorded in South Carolina, Azores, Portugal and Bermuda struck the Burin Peninsula at 7:30 to 8:00 P.M. with 3 waves as high as 15 feet, destroying virtually all shore property and killed 28 people.  The irony was that a Frenchman in one of the villages tried to warn the people that a tsunami was coming but the towns people just laughed at him.

The only other tsunami's to hit Canada was January 26, 1700 west coast of Vancouver Island and March 27, 1964 north coast of Vancouver Island.  It is believed a mega-tsunami hit America in 118,000 B.C. causing a wall of water 1,706 feet high destroying every thing 12 miles in land.  Most didn't believe this until a mega-tsunami hit Lituta Bay, Alaska with a water crest of 1,640 feet in July 9, 1958.

1930 

Between 1840 and 1930, about 900,000 French Canadians left Canada to emigrate to the United States.

Quebec claims to be a civilized community, but denies to its women, not only freedom to practice the liberal professions, but the bare equality which is expressed in the ballot.  Quebec disenfranchises its women.

Quebec is the last remaining Christian civilized community which legalizes the marriage of a girl of twelve years of age. In such a marriage the mother has no authority. The father has the entire jurisdiction.

June 29:   The Roman Catholic Church canonized eight Jesuits who were executed for blasphemy, sorcery, spreading disease or as prisoners of war in the 1600's.  These include Jean de Brebeuf (1593-1649), Noel Chabanel, Antoine Daniel, Charles Garnier, Rene Goupil (1608-1642), Isaac Jogues (1607-1646), Jean de La Lande and Gabriel Lalemant.

1937 

In Quebec, Maurice Duplessis, at the suggestion of Cardinal Villeneuve and the Knights of Columbus, proposed and passed the Fascists Padlock Law which states that any place used to propagate Communism or Bolshevism could be locked up for a year.  The bill deliberately didn't define Communism and it is stated that it intended to restrict free speech.  Cardinal Villeneuve retaliated, in August, that freedom of speech is not freedom to outrage our social conceptions, to insult out traditions, our Principles and our Religion.  The Roman Catholic Inquisition mentality is alive and well in Quebec and would persist in many forms throughout this century.  The Federal Government is reluctant to strike down this Quebec Roman law despite being approached by forty-five organizations in Quebec to do so.

   

1938  

Anti-Semitism is alive and well in Quebec!  Mackenzie King is basically elected because of the Quebec vote which wanted to keep Canada free from too great an intermixture of foreign strains of blood, especially Jewish or Asian blood.  McGill University restricted the number of Jewish students.  The St. Jean Baptiste Society raised a petition of 128,000 names, demanding further restrictions on Jews in Quebec.  Abbe Groulx, the spiritual father of modern Quebec joined the newspaper Le Devoir to denounce Jews as a race that refused to be assimilated.  You think this is past history?  It just changed its form from Anti-Semitism to Anti-English or Anti-Non-French culture folks.  All humans are born free and equal in dignity and rights, except in Quebec.  What have we learned about ourselves in the past 300 years?  We deserve the type of government, church and business that we tolerate.

 

1940  

Quebec women are allowed to vote and run for office in Provincial elections.

1942  

October 15:  A German sub sinks the Ss Caribou ferry off the coast of Newfoundland killing 137.  U-boats active in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and lower river killed about 600.

1945  

Ukrainians and other European undesirables were rounded up during WWII as "Enemy Aliens" and sent to concentration camps and used as forced labor.  Their property was confiscated and sold to the benefit of the government.  Mary Manko Haskett, born Montreal, is believed to be the only surviving Ukrainian prisoner of war, by 2004 and was imprisoned as a child, at Spirit Lake in Northern Quebec.  

1948  

January 21 the Quebec Provincial flag is adopted.

1950  

February 1:  The Roman Catholic Church stops its clergy from leading trade unions in Quebec.

July 22:  Newfoundland-Labrador vote to join Canada.

1953

Doctor Ewen Cameron, of Montreal , a psychiatrist at McGill University, is considered by many to be a 'Mad Scientist' who conceived an evil plan to conduct mind altering drug experiments on prison inmates and the general public.  Mad Cameron was originally financed by the CIA and, later, the Canadian Government.  Mad Cameron also requested the support of Doctor Louis Gendreau, the infamous Deputy Commissioner of Penitentiary Services.  Dr Prter Roper was also a colleague involved in this evil research.  The CIA was sued by 9 former inmates and these inmates were awarded $750,000.00.  The Canadian Government blocked the victoms fight for justice and would only pay $100,000.00 to dozens of former inmates.  The told numbers are not known but are believed to number in the hundreds.   Cameron and Roper destroyed the minds on innocent Canadians including the wife of a member of parliament.  

 

1956

"When France was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris.  I was there, I saw it ".  Gordon Sinclair.

1959

The St. Lawrence Seaway opened for shipping this year.

 

1960  

Maurice Le Noblet Duplessis, from a family of fervent Catholics, is Prime Minister and Attorney General of Quebec, achieving this position by exposing corruption.  He, however, asserted the State authority over the Church authority and worked against civil liberties.  He used (abused) the Roman Catholic Church at bargain wages to perform secular works.  This was during a period of relative prosperity and set the stage for Church abuse.  It is noteworthy that many of the abused become abusers.

The Quebec Roman Catholic Church, during the period of 1940 to 1960, received poor and orphaned children aged 6 to 12, about 2,800 children where they were beaten, sexually abused, electro shocked and some had lobotomies performed.  These atrocities occurred in nine institutes.  These boys were nicknamed Duplessis Boys after Quebec Premier Maurice Duplessis.   The boys were forced to do slave labor on local farms without pay.  By 2001, only 1,000 survivors are still alive and most are living in poverty with emotional problems. On July 1, 2001, the Quebec Government repented and made restitution of $1,000 per person plus $1,000 per year they were held in confinement.  The victims of this settlement accepted this hard line offer after a decade of trying to get justice because they are nearing their end of life.  It is noteworthy that the Roman Catholic Church has refused to repent for their grievous sins nor to make restitution, going against the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church and the recent examples being set by their leader- the Pope.  This is called "a sad episode in the history of Quebec".

Quebec begins what some call the 'Quiet Revolution' (1960-1970), taking welfare and Education away from the Roman Catholic Church, and nationalizing some industry.  The People began taking a renewed interest in their 'French Heritage' and began to modernize this own culture.

1963

March:  The radical 'Front de Liberation du Quebec' (FLQ) begins its terrorist bombing campaign, that lasts until October, 1970.  They detonated over 200 bombs. 

1967

July 24:  President Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970) of France, infuriates Canadians when he was invited for Expo 67, he shouts "Vive le Quebec Libre!".  He was fueling the separatists and more violence.  The perception of France as a world power was greatly undermined.

1969

One of the greatest disgraces of Quebec is that native persons (First Nation People) had to wait over 360 years to obtain the right to vote in their own land of Kebec.  Canada had given the (First Nation) right to vote 9 years earlier.

1970

We sometimes forget the FLQ (Front de Liberation du Quebec), a terrorist organization, was active from 1963 to1971 and was responsible for 7 violent deaths.  They claimed, rightfully so, that the political system was unjust and democratic channels for change were blocked. 

Pierre Elliott Trudeau (1919-2000), the Prime Minister of Canada, invokes the War Measures Act although no war was declared.  This act banned the FLQ (Front de Liberation), suspended all civil rights and imposed martial law on all of Canada.  The majority of centralist Canadians applauded the actions, but Western Canada and the rest of the world were horrified.  I had always wondered how Hitler had taken a Democratic Christian country into a dictatorship and here was Canada only one step removed.  Only the right to carry arms would prevent this last step from being taken by the Liberals.  Trudeau mania died this day, and the world press began referring to him as being remote from the people, arrogant, sharp tongued and who believes he has a monopoly on truth.  This is the man that other Prime Ministers would model themselves after.  The image of 'Little Caesar' is resurrected as an idol of the Liberal Party.

Federal troops march into Quebec.  The police rounded up 450 people believed to be associated with the FLQ.  Some were associated with the Parti Quebecois (PQ) but are never charged. 

The longest suspension bridge in Canada is 668 meter Pierre Laporte Bridge alias New Quebec Bridge also Pont Frontenca Bridge, in Quebec, City.  Pierre Lapointe was murdered by the FLQ.

October:   In the autumn, the Front de Liberation du Quebec (FLQ) carried out two kidnappings and a murder in the name of Quebec separation from Canada.

October 5:  The British trade commissioner, James Cross, is kidnapped.  The FLQ demanded the release of 23 FLQ terrorists.  Shortly there after, Pierre Laporte, the Quebec Labor Minister, is kidnapped.  Quebec requested the Federal Government come to their assistance.

October 18:  The body of the Labour Minister of Quebec, Pierre Laporte, is discovered in the trunk of a car.  The terrorists were Paul Rose (11 years in jail), Jacques Rose (5 years in jail), Francis Simard (11 years in jail), Bernard Lortie (7 years in jail), Marc Carbonneau (exciled in Cuba 11 years and 20 months jail), Jacques Lanctot (8 years in exile 1 year jail), Louise Crossette Trudel (exile cuba 3 yrs, exile France 4 years, 8 months jail), Jacques Cossette Trudel (exile Cuba 3 yrs, exile France 4 years, 8 months jail), Yves Langlois (exile in Cuba and France 12 years, sentenced 2 years jail, amount served unknown), and Nigel Barry Hamer (not arrested until 1980 then 12 months jail).  Support for the FLQ quickly vanished after the murder of Pierre Laporte.  Many Quebec Separatists still treat these terrorists and murderers as folk heroes. 

1972  

May 5:   The Quebec Indian Association filed a legal action to stop the James Bay Power Project, claiming compensation under the 1912 Act which expropriated the northern part of the Province from the First Nation to Quebec.

 

1974  

November:   Quebec is institutionally bilingual at the constitutional and federal levels, but only gives official recognition to  French from this time forward.  Some would say all humans are born free and  equal in dignity and rights except in Quebec.

 

1975

French President, Valery Giscard d'Estaing, tried desperately to exclude Canada from the newly formed G-7 (G-8) organization of Industrial Nations; the most exclusive club in the world.  Many Quebecois are outraged.

1977

August 26:  Bill 101 in Quebec.  French becomes the Provinces only official language.  An exodus of English speaking from the Province begins and immigration to Quebec falls.  Many young people are also leaving Quebec for provinces with a free choice. 

1979  

Quebec proposes sovereignty-association with Canada, basically achieving political independence while retaining the benefits of economic union.

1980  

In the Quebec sovereignty-association referendum, about 60% of voters rejected the Parti-Quebecois stand and decided to remain part of Canada.

The Kingsclear reform school of New Brunswick is the focus of 1,400 sexual assaults on young boys.  Karl Toft a guard at the school admitted to assaulting over 200 boys himself.  Some of the boys said 4 or more guards were involved in the pedophile ring.  It is reported that Clifford McCanne of the RCMP was involved in the ring and independent witnesses observed McCanne sexually abusing the boys.  Senior RCMP members re alleged involved in a police cover-up and one victim was told by the RCMP not to file complaints.  Guiliano Zaccardelli of the RCMP is a person of interest in the investigation.  Some reported that 15 men were involved in the sexual assaults and included high government officials.  The assaults are known to have taken place over 35 years.  It appears to be a systemic problem in New Brunswick.

 

1981

September 23:  Quebec bans any public signs in English.

November 23:   Ottawa and all the Provinces, except Quebec, reach agreement to restore native and women's rights to the proposed constitution.

1982

March 17:   The new Constitution Act, including the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, is proclaimed by the British Queen Elizabeth II.  Quebec boycotted the ceremony, and the P.Q. marched in Montreal in protest.  The Charter of Rights and Freedoms does not speak to Roles and Responsibilities.

1985  

January 2:   The Supreme Court of Canada overturned Bill 101 that outlaws the use of languages other than French on commercial signs.

 

1987  

November 10:   Rene Levesque (1922-1987 died of a heart attack.  Levesque is the founder of the Parti Quebecois and leader (1968-1985) and Premier (1976-1985).

November 10:   Pierre Marc Johnson, Parti Quebecois Leader (MNA Montreal Anjou), resigned because party hardliners refused to steer a more moderate course on independence.

 

1988

July:   The Conservative Government finally passed the Canadian Multiculturalism Act which recognized all Canadians as full and equal participants in Canadian society, except not passed in Quebec.

May 12:  The Quebec Government announced that they will pay families $500 cash for each of their first two babies.  For the third and subsequent children, $3,000.  This did not prevent the birth rate decline.

December 15:   The Supreme Court of Canada struck down Quebec's uni-lingual sign law as contrary to both the Federal and Quebec Charters of Rights.  

December 21:   The Quebec National Assembly passed legislation employing the "notwithstanding clause" to override the freedom of expression guarantees in the Charter of Rights in order to continue to discriminate against all other languages but French on commercial signs.  Three cabinet ministers resigned in disgust.   Evil is found and grows in little things.  

 

1990

July11:    A hundred heavily armed Quebec police stormed barricades erected by Mohawk at Oka, Quebec.  The war began with the police being driven off, one policeman being killed.  The Mohawk repelled 2 attacks and destroyed police cars before 1,000 police sealed off access to the town to prevent food or supplies getting into the besieged camp.  At the same time, the Kahnawake reserve set up another roadblock at the Mercier Bridge, cutting off direct access from Montreal Island to south shore communities.  Residents of Chateauguay conducted nightly demonstrations which included rock-throwing and racial taunts against the First Nation Peoples

July 27:   The Federal Government purchased some of the disputed lands near Oka, Quebec and was in negotiation to buy the rest.  The Mohawk rejected a proposal to turn in their weapons and dismantle barricades if the Quebec police were withdrawn.   First Nation People across Canada rallied in support of the Mohawk resistance stand to press for the resolution of Native land claims.

August 1:  About 12,000 angry residents of Chateauguay, Quebec marched on Montreal City Hall demanding the Canadian army be brought in to remove the First Nation blockade at Mercier Bridge.

August 12:   Quebec police and the RCMP used clubs and tear gas on an angry mob at Mercier Bridge that had attacked the police with volleys of bricks, rocks and bottles.  About 38 people were injured, including 16 police, and 25 people were arrested.  An army of 2,600 armed soldiers with armed vehicles set up positions near Oka.

August 27:  The army served notice that hey would use whatever force was required to dismantle Mohawk blockades.  A convoy of women, children and elderly people, under a truce flag, evacuated the Kahnawake reserve.  The convoy is attacked by rock-throwing French protesters, and the RCMP and Quebec Police made little effort to prevent or halt the assault.  The Oka stand-off remained unresolved.

September 26:   The 78 day armed resistance at Oka ended when the Mohawk Warriors suddenly emerged from the Kanesatake treatment center unarmed.  Fifty people were taken into custody by the soldiers.

December 21:  Quebec employed the "notwithstanding clause"  to override the freedom of expression guarantees in the Charter of Rights, to continue the discrimination of those who want to post commercial signs in other languages than French. 

1992  

A cod moratorium is enacted because of over fishing on the East Coast of Canada  for the past few decades.

 

2001  

Rheal Mathieu(b-1947), an FLQ fanatic member who was sentenced to 9 years in 1967,  is a repeat offender.  In 2001 he is convicted of  the attempted firebombing of three Second Cup outlets because of their use of english only names.  For this offence he receives a one month sentence.  Because this is treated as a minor offence, within days seven McDonald's restaurants are firebombed.

Premier Bernard Landry of Quebec, who has yet to be elected by the people, proclaimed Quebec as a Nation State with Quebec City as the National Capital, not Ottawa.  His critics accuse him of supporting:

Ethnic Nationalism
A Francophone Nation
that excludes Anglophones
and excludes other Nationalities and
therefore is not a democracy

Bernard Landry took time to remove one foot from his mouth to issue another infamous quote, "We are not for sale.  Quebec will not prostitute itself for bits of red rag (The Canadian Flag) or for anything else." 

Quebec is a Nation that wants to become a country where all are Quebecois, but (according to Landry) certain citizens are more Quebecois than others.

Francophone's number 6,703,325 and the majority are unilingual numbering 5,231,575

The Major Franco cultural groups are:

Quebecois                
Acadians
Cajuns                    
Metis
Franco Ontarians
Franco Albertans
Franco B.C.
Franco Manitobans

2003  

About 33,000 Quebec residents are considered as 2nd class citizens as they travel to other parts of the country.  The Quebec health system does not cover their full costs for medical attention.  Quebec only agrees to pay 58-67% of physicians bills incurred in other Provinces.

March 17:  France destroyed any possibility of United Nations involvement in the decision concerning Iraq.  France stated they would veto any and all proposals that brings Saddam Hussein b-1737, to account for his actions.  France voted for but has historically been against the inspection process of 1998-1999 for the disarmament of Iraq.  Some believe France's actions are based on economic considerations rather than ideology.   Subsequent to this declaration France says they will send troops into Iraq if they use chemical or biological weapons.   Some peace advocates consider this hypocritical.  It is noteworthy that the the Parti Quebecois are in support of the Liberal position of no involvement unless sanctioned by the UN which is impossible because of a French veto.

September 10:  A poll conducted by the National Post and Global National suggests the Liberal Party of Canada has developed a foreign policy that reflects Quebec beliefs and values and ignores the rest of Canada.  They point to an anti American policy, inadequate support of armed services, embracing the United Nations as a World Government, following France and German policies.  They suggest the Liberals have a self-centered isolationism attitude.  They say many wonder how long Canadians will tolerate the insufferable and shameless parochialisms?

October 31:  Canadian MP Yves Rocheleau of the Bloc Quebecois from Trois Rivieres stated "Mr Speaker, for the minister's information, I'm not Canadian".  Prime Minister Jean Chretien said "Mr Speaker, I think that the MP for Trois Riviers should withdraw from the chamber because he has affirmed that he is not a citizen of Canada."  "He is Canadian to receive his pay." 

2005

Arabic is overtaking English as Quebec Schools official language.     Immigration policies favor countries like Morocco, Algeria and Lebanon.  Punitive language laws are forcing English speaking families out of the Province.

May 4:  Quebec moves to eliminate religious instruction in schools.  Canada's constitution of 1867 guaranteed Catholic and Protestant schools in Quebec.  The Government however invoked the notwithstanding clause of the constitution.  The French want to replace religious education with secular ethical and moral education.

2006

February 26:  Ninteen Quebec priests denounced the Vatican opposition to same-sex marriage and for their refusal to allow homosexual men into the priesthood.

  

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